Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

I don't think the allegations from former referee Tim Donaghy that referees purposely made call that ensure a 7th game in the 2002 playoffs are credible. The NBA always have a reputation that the game is not called fairly and thus can be fixed. I think everyone would agree that the stars get the call 90% of the time when going up against a mediocre player. In a game where a lot of the fouls can be called either way, it is a big advantage for the stars. Most of the time it is not a directive from the league to help a player but referees are human beings who give the better player the benefit of the doubt. So I don't buy that there is a conspiracy theory. If there was, I would think the Knicks would be doing much better.

But I do have trouble with the way Yao Ming had been treated since coming to the NBA. Before Yao the European players who came to the league always seem to get the worst calls. Maybe it is because they play the game differently than the American players and the referees are not use to seeing their moves. When Yao started in the league, I thought he was getting favorable treatments. This is in contrast to other foreign players before him. I always suspected that since China is a big market that the league is trying to get into, they want Yao to succeed badly. While he was adjusting to the pace of the NBA some of the awkward moves that can be called fouls or travels were ignored. Was there a directive? Who knows. But when Yao got to superstar level, he did not get the calls that would be expected for a superstar. Certainly the things that Shaq got away with, Yao did not get away with in the last couple of years. Could there be a directive to let him be good, but not too good?

Well, maybe this is all speculation and nonsense. Let's get back to watching the NBA finals between the Kevin McHale Celtics and the Jerry West Lakers!

p.s. since last night when I wrote this and could not get it publish for some reason, the Celtics have won the finals. Paul Pierce is named the MVP but we all know that Kevin McHale is the real MVP!